Let’s take daily steps to keep our eyes healthy so they last our lifetime. The sun’s rays can damage our eyes and surrounding skin and cause vision loss, cataracts, macular degeneration, and even eyelid cancers. Here are some ways help protect our eyes: Invest in a good pair of sunglasses Choose polarized if possible since it blocks sun, its reflections, and eliminates glare. I personally love Xperio UV polarized lenses. In addition to providing maximum UV protection to protect our eyes, they are scratch resistant and easy to clean. Never stare into the sun, its direct sunlight, or anything reflecting the sun’s rays Avoid looking at shiny metal objects, the sand, and the water. The glare hurts because it's damaging to our eyes! Beware of eye-strain when on a computer Make sure you are a good distance from your screen. Don’t have it right in front of your face! Take breaks and look away from the screen now and again to give your eyes a break. Wear goggles in the swimming pool Goggles will help you avoid getting chemicals they clean the pool with into your eyes. Especially if you're swimming in a chlorinated pool. Get plenty of sleep Sleep helps to rest your eyes. Try to get at least 7-8 hours a night and give your eyes time to relax and rejuvenate. They work hard for us all day and deserve down time.

feel happy Let's feel happy! Have you heard the phrase “happiness is a reflection of our inner health”? Well, we know a clean diet and exercise can help us live a healthy lifestyle. And, eating whole foods and staying active help us feel better. So, when we feel good…. it’s easier to feel happy! Studies show feeling happy lowers our cortisol levels (the stress hormone linked to type 2 diabetes), high blood pressure, and autoimmune diseases. We all deserve to feel happier, plus it’s good for us. Here are 5 things we can do every day to feel happier: Meditate Meditation helps us preserve our brain. We exercise our body, and mediation is a workout for our brain. It gives us time to be still, to reflect, and to assess where we are in life and where we want to go. Studies show that mediation helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Listen to Uplifting Music Make a playlist of your favorite happy songs, and sing along. Listening to my happy playlist during a workout gives me more energy to crank out a fun workout. You could even sit and meditate to a happy song. Laugh and Smile Watch or listen to comedy. Act silly. Start laughing in front of your friend. Smile at strangers. Smiling and laughing can reduce pain, decrease stress, and boosts your immunity. Help Others We all get caught up in negative feelings from time to time. It helps me to volunteer and help people in need. Last week I assembled and distributed survival kits for the homeless in downtown Los Angeles. Speaking with the homeless and hearing their stories helped put my own life into perspective. It left me [...]

By Ani Phyo|2015-12-29T21:15:50+00:00January 4th, 2016|Beauty, Detox, Health|Comments Off on 5 Ways to Feel Happy This New Year

With all of the holiday cheer, parties, and celebrations going on, we could suddenly find our clothes fitting more snuggly. Here are 5 tips to help avoid gaining weight during the holidays: Do something active everyday this week...and then keep it going! Walking briskly outside in the cold burns more calories because your body works harder to stay warm. Mix it up so you don’t get bored. For example, lift weights 2-3 days a week, do 20 to 30 minutes of cardio 2-3 days a week, stretch or do yoga 2 days a week. I like to walk outside for my ‘rest’ day. Pump extra heavy weights to boost your muscle mass while increasing your metabolism. Plus, it helps us build denser bones to avoid osteoporosis. Choose a weight that you can lift 8 to 10 times, and do three sets. I like to go heavier and heavier each set and can only lift 6 by the last set. Eat in, eat healthy, save money, save calories! Making your own food. It’s so much healthier when you know what’s in your food. Bulk up on vegetables, healthy fats, and your favorite protein. Use plates for portion control. Use a salad dish or side plate instead of a large dinner plate. Make sure 2/3 of your plate is filled with vegetables. And...remember to join me for my #apDetoxChallenge on Instagram @AniPhyo January 1, 2, 3.

The end of the year is approaching quickly, and the New Year is always a great time to reboot our bodies with a healthy detox. I’m hosting an on-going 3-day New Year Detox Challenge throughout the month of January 2016. How does this work? You pick the 3 days during the month that works best for you and your schedule. This way you have a much higher success rate! I'll email you recipes and tips during your 3 days. And, every Friday my favorite post on Instagram using #AnisReboot will win a copy of my ebook Ani’s Tart Cherry Recipes. My New Year Detox Challenge is simple, it’s a whole food diet. For 3 short days we will eliminate gluten, dairy, processed foods, and refined sugars. I also recommend eliminating animal products if possible. Why Detox? We may have indulged in a bit more sugar and alcohol than usual during the holidays. Or ate less than ideal food. Plus, it’s a good idea to detox and reboot with each season. What better time than at the New Year? Boost Pump up your immune system during these chilly winter months. Strengthen your digestion’s ability to break down food and absorb nutrients. You’ll be left feeling energized. Tone Up Get leaner and more toned by eliminating common allergens and inflammatory ingredients like wheat, dairy, and animal products. You will be amazed to see how inflammatory foods make us look and feel puffy. Glow Give yourself the gift of a New Year detox. Make yourself a priority. Your body will thank you, so will your skin. It will be fun, and you will feel happy for making time for yourself. By the end, you will notice you are glowing with inner health. Sign Up Sign [...]

.a deep sleep. It can be so easy of us to compromise our sleep for work, play, and stress. Just for this week, let’s try putting our health first by going to bed early. Let’s see how much better we can feel, look, and function when we are well rested. Here are my Top 5 Reasons to Sleep More: Keep Calm With more sleep, you may notice you’re mind is clearer, you’re more productive, are able to make better decisions,...all while acting less emotionally and reactively. The Journal of Neuroscience explains that lack of sleep impairs emotional control and “leads to increased anxiety and stress elicited by seemingly minor triggers.” Remember More More sleep helps us think and process more clearly. It also helps us remember more details. A rested brain is better able to make our memories stick while also digging up memories we may have thought were forgotten. Feel Happier Remember how great it feels to wake up after a night of solid sleep? On the flip side, people with insomnia produce higher rates of hormones like cortisol, making it even harder to wind down. Lack of sleep can even cause depression, which in turn can cause more insomnia. Make getting more sleep a priority, and feel happier! Lose Weight It’s more challenging to make healthy food choices when we are tired. It makes us crave high sugar and carb foods because the lack of sleep lowers insulin sensitivity. Lack of sleep also raises cortisol levels, the hormone that makes us store belly fat. Look Better A good night of sleep will do wonders for your skin. That’s because growth hormone is secreted during our deepest sleep. Growth hormone is what helps us [...]

celebrating wellness in the sun I’ve been feeling a shift happening over the past few years.... in my mind, body, and spirit. The way I feel in my body has changed, and so have my priorities. The way I dress, apply my makeup, exercise, and even the way I eat have been evolving. I’m less willing now than ever to compromise the things that help to keep me happy like sleep, sun, healthy food, and time with loved ones. Some may define this as a midlife crisis…but not me. As I embark upon the second half of my life, I’m embracing this opportunity to recalibrate myself to be the best I can be. I'm deep diving into wellness, and I’m super excited for what’s the come. My cookbooks have always been about wellness and our eco-lifestyle. They have included themes on beauty, fitness, hormones, detox, eco-fashion, longevity, community, and even money. I’m setting up now to bring you even more tips and ideas around overall wellness and living a healthy lifestyle. I’m looking forward to sharing my wellness journey with you. Thank you for sticking with me! xo

We are 7 days from Thanksgiving and people have been asking me for strategies to make it through the holidays. So, below are my top 5 holiday tips for a simple, guilt-free, and happy holiday. Ani’s 5 Thanksgiving Survival Tips Eat breakfast and don’t skip meals on Thanksgiving because chances are you’ll be super famished and overeat at dinner. Drink lots of water throughout the day. Try starting everyday with a liter of filtered water, adding lemon if you’d like. Start burning excess calories today! Add on an extra 20 minutes of walking daily. Over the next seven days, that will create a deficit of about 500 calories for me at 132lbs. Get outside and do something active before dinner to rev up your metabolism and get your blood pumping. Go on a walk or hike, hit the gym, or do some yoga. At dinner, follow the 80/20 rule. Enjoy all the dishes you’d like, but bulk up on the healthier options like vegetables and salad. Fill 80% of your plate with the healthier stuff, and 20% with the heavier treats you look forward to all year.

Ani Phyo - Juices to Benefit the Body The Dr Oz Show Syndicated National 11-10-15 2-3 PM 04_28 from Dr. Oz Show on Vimeo. This segment aired on Tuesday November 10, 2015 on The Dr Oz Show where I was invited to talk-up the benefits of tart cherries, along with all fresh fruits and vegetables. All produce, especially when raw and unheated, provides us with powerful antioxidants to help slow the oxidation, rusting, and aging of our cells....keeping us feeling and looking younger, longer! In addition, antioxidants combat inflammation and pain, and help to combat illnesses like cancer and even Alzheimer's disease. It's easy to power up your defenses by enjoying more fruits and vegetables like cherries. They are delicious. My appearance inspired me to create my e-b00k Ani's Tart Cherry Recipes. You can also sign up for my newsletter to receive a free copy of my Ani's Tart Cherry Elixirs e-book too. Find out more about the beautiful necklace, earrings, and bracelet I'm wearing designed by Los Angeles' own Lisa Kim, metalmythologist. Visit her at her website: LisaKimFineJewelry.

This summer has been full of the most amazing adventures stretching from the desserts of southern Utah all the way to Yosemite, CA. But, the highlight by far was visiting my friend Natashia's ranch and vineyard in Northern California. There's a gigantic organic garden here with a row of peach trees, apple trees, raised beds of strawberries, tomatoes of all sorts, many varieties of kales, and even potatoes. Heriloom, cherry, and roma tomatoes taste incredibly delicious picked straight off the vine. This was my harvest today. Diced the potato and sautéed it up with kale, quartered tomato, garlic, onion, and rosemary. Served it topped with fresh basil and cherry tomatoes. Blended up a strawberry smoothie, and ate the peaches on their own. Yummy! On the way to gathering ingredients at the farm, I stopped off to visit the horses, chickens, turkeys, cows, and goats. The goats were surprisingly social and interactive. Plus, I recently learned goats are the best rock climbers! This little guy is so adorable! I want to take him home with me to LA. Fresh air, sunshine, rolling hills, beautiful animal friends, and organic fruits and vegetables. This must be heaven on Earth!

My students made me this beautiful stack with marinated mushrooms and onion, sliced tomato, oregano and rosemary marinara, cashew cheeze, and fresh Italian herbs today at my Ani's Raw Food Certification Level 1. I love showing everyone that elegant food need not use many ingredients nor be complicated to make. Each recipe uses a couple ingredients, seriously! And, is really quick to create. The sophistication comes in the plating, presentation, and use of easy to make sauces. One of our students this weekend is a Le Cordon Bleu trained professional chef who's mind was blown by Raw Food's functionality, and fresh flavors! She said "I've been making my food way too complicated!". We all laughed. Get in my belly!!! Yumminess! Our final Level 1 for 2015 is September 19+20th. I'd love to spend the weekend eating the most delicious, nutritious, and inspiring food with you. xoxo http://www.aniphyo.com/certification/